Originally posted by chithappens
I'm going to school in Knoxville, TN and, no lie, the hot water varies between gray and a light brown.I don't know either...
Hmm, gray and brown?
Is the cold water clear?
If so, that means you are seeing rust and the such from old pipes. They stopped using metal pipes for plumbing a while back and now they use PCP. (This is the US of course.) Hot water indicates that it is the flow from the hot water origin and/or the pipes from the hot water tank.
That is probably an older building...30+ years?
course....I am just guessing.
Originally posted by Devil King
but I doubt your water is all that much cleaner than it would be if you were sipping it out of a river on the edge of a pig farm.
You're exaggerating; it's not that bad. Plants do a good job of sterilizing and killing pathogens, but sediments and minerals mostly come from rust and other rub-off from the pipes.
So drinking out of a tap isn't like drinking out of a farm trough.
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
You're exaggerating; it's not that bad. Plants do a good job of sterilizing and killing pathogens, but sediments and minerals mostly come from rust and other rub-off from the pipes.So drinking out of a tap isn't like drinking out of a farm trough.
Drinking pig farm water was an exaggerated methaphor; that was obvious to you, I'm sure.
But, do the sterilization plants do a good job of cleaning the water, or do they do a good job of cleaning the water of those elements, pathogens and all, of what they are designed to address? Heavy elements don't have to cause a snotty nose to be dangerous. Beyond that, clean water doesn't carry much that could infect the walls of an air-free pipe. What occurs in teh pipes occurs because the water brought with it any number of contaminates, not just because the pipes are the method of delivery. Uncontaminated water is an extremly reliable substance. In fact, it relies on it's own contamination to carry it over to other sources.
If you worked in a water treatment plant, I'm sure you're aware of the chemicals added to water to clean it. But, you don't "clean" water by adding more crap to it.
Originally posted by dadudemon
Hmm, gray and brown?Is the cold water clear?
If so, that means you are seeing rust and the such from old pipes. They stopped using metal pipes for plumbing a while back and now they use PCP. (This is the US of course.) Hot water indicates that it is the flow from the hot water origin and/or the pipes from the hot water tank.
That is probably an older building...30+ years?
course....I am just guessing.
Every two weeks or so they "fix" the hot water. IF you try to turn it on right as they finish it, the water looks like dirt. Other times if you just turn it on, it will be gray and cloudy. Any other time, it resembles water but it still does not look like water (this in particular includes cold water).